The Secret Wedding Dress

The Secret Wedding Dress
Roz Denny Fox

A Bridesmaid Thirteen Times Over. But Never a Bride?A painful betrayal drove wedding dress designer Sylvie Shea out of New York City to her North Carolina hometown. Now she outfits the town's brides and secretly works on her own wedding dress–one Sylvie thinks she'll never wear.Her family–and practically all the citizens of Briarwood–have made it their mission to find Sylvie a husband. And when Joel Mercer and his six-year-old daughter, Rianne, move in next door, the matchmakers are sure they've found the perfect candidate. Joel believes Briarwood will be a good place to raise Rianne, and the last thing he wants is to fall in love. But he can't stop thinking about his new neighbor….Sylvie's secret wedding dress might not stay secret for long!

“ I meant to ask about your neighbor, Sylvie. I hear he’s really hot.”

“Who said that, Kay?” Sylvie Shea stopped cold.

“You mean he’s not?”

Sylvie shrugged. “I suppose, if looks are all you care about. He’s a bit of a grouch. Which you’ll discover if I don’t get out there and save his daughter’s cat. He’ll yell at me through an upstairs window and order me to corral my dog.”

“ Joel Mercer has a daughter? Wow, I don’t think the gals at the nail salon know he’s married.

A couple of them are drawing straws over him already.”

Sylvie didn’t mention that she hadn’t seen a wife show up next door. Nor would she admit that Joel Mercer was better to look at than a chocolate fudge sundae. The last thing Sylvie needed was her mother or her sisters to get wind of the fact that she considered her neighbor worthy of a second glance. If Mercer was separated, as she’d begun to suspect, the last thing he needed was to get flattened by the Shea freight train—aka the wedding express.

Dear Reader,

Ideas for stories come to writers in different ways. We don’t have (as some people seem to think) warehouses brimming with plots and characters. Ideas pop into my head at odd times—like when I sleep, or travel, or I’m reading a funky weekly newspaper I found in an airport. I never know if a setting will grab me first or a character will. But I’ve learned to take whatever I get, in whatever form it arrives.

Sylvie Shea and Joel Mercer kicked around in my brain for months. She’s a woman of eclectic talents who once left a small town nestled in the Smoky Mountain foothills and went to the big city, when she imagined fulfilling a lifelong dream. Her hopes dashed, she returns to Briarwood, North Carolina, a changed person.

He’s a city guy who made his mark in his career, failed at marriage, but wants to raise his daughter in the warm, small-community environment he remembers fondly from boyhood summer visits. That place, too, is Briarwood, North Carolina.

I confess that it took me too long to see that Sylvie and Joel were meant to find each other. I always knew, however, that Joel’s six-year-old daughter, Rianne, needed the unconditional love and acceptance of an extended family. A family just like Sylvie’s.

I hope readers reach the same conclusion—that Joel and Sylvie belong together. Sylvie’s sure that after being a bridesmaid thirteen times she’ll never find a love of her own. And Joel, a confident man, a good father, a successful comic strip artist, is equally sure he’s insulated against falling in love. I hope you’ll enjoy discovering that they’re both wrong!

I love to hear from readers. You can drop me a line at P.O. Box 17480-101, Tucson, AZ 85731. Or e-mail me at rdfox@worldnet.att.net.

Roz Denny Fox

The Secret Wedding Dress

Roz Denny Fox

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Books by Roz Denny Fox

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

1036—TOO MANY BROTHERS

HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

649—MAJOR ATTRACTION

672—CHRISTMAS STAR

686—THE WATER BABY

716—TROUBLE AT LONE SPUR

746—SWEET TIBBY MACK

776—ANYTHING YOU CAN DO…

800—HAVING IT ALL

821—MAD ABOUT THE MAJOR

847—THE LYON LEGACY

“Silver Anniversary”

859—FAMILY FORTUNE

885—WELCOME TO MY FAMILY

902—BABY, BABY

926—MOM’S THE WORD

984—WHO IS EMERALD MONDAY?

999—THE BABY COP

1013—LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

1046—WIDE OPEN SPACES

1069—THE SEVEN YEAR SECRET

1108—SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

1128—THE SECRET DAUGHTER

1148—MARRIED IN HASTE

1184—A COWBOY AT HEART

1220—DADDY’S LITTLE MATCHMAKER

1254—SHE WALKS THE LINE

1220—A MOM FOR MATTHEW